First steps

Well, let's start this little project off with a proper introduction. . .

Me? 29, soon to be 30. . .mother of one fantastic little girl, 1 dog and 3 cats. . .married to my college sweetheart-who continues to be a sweetheart. . .trying to balance a new (well, new-ish) job that's not all it's cracked up to be with a 120-mile round-trip commute and the needs of all of the above family members. We made a tough decision about a year ago to move back to my hometown to be near to my family and raise Baby, and the transition has been ROUGH. For me, that's mostly because of the aforementioned crap job and the nagging feeling that I'd rather be staying at home with the little one.

I'm the only one of my friends with a child (clearly they're all following the trend of later-in-life babies!), which presents a unique set of challenges in terms of creating a support system--there's really no one to empathize, and I feel weird calling on them to talk about my admittedly different set of issues. I know very well that my college pal that works as the spokesperson for a federal government agency has absolutely zero interest in discussing my daughter's recent penchant for waking up soaked in urine!

At the moment, I find myself at what I suppose you'd call a crossroads. In a couple of years, husband will be making enough that I won't have to work. . .but do I still want to work? Would I feel differently if I didn't work in an office dominated by catty 40-something women who are clearly bipolar? Why does my daughter race for the front door when she hears my mother (who watches her during the day) enter, but not me? I'm ready for another baby now, but how will we manage everything when it's already chaos??

In the next couple of weeks, I'll learn if I've been accepted to a doctoral program--maybe that will make some decisions for me, or at least give me some clarity. We shall see. . .

In any event, I find that I have a major need to just chat-about the work crazies, my insecurities, the funny happenings of my job, the latest episode of "American Idol"-and also to wax poetic (or something like that) about the all-consuming love I have for the amazing little blue-eyed girl that we've been blessed with.

Hello to YOU. . .talk soon.